The creation of a product having a complicated geometrical configuration typically incorporates a plurality of pieces which are created individually and assembled together at a later time to create the finished product. This is because the tools needed to create these products, such as LASER cut machines, need to be reprogrammed each time a new product is produced and in some cases, the programming of these tools may be a time and labor intensive task. Thus, in order to reduce the cost of producing this type of product, each part is typically created in bulk and stored separately in stack inventory. As the product is needed, each of the pieces that are needed to produce the desired end product are removed from stack inventory and assembled together at a remote location.
Unfortunately however, this design and manufacturing approach has several disadvantages associated with it. One disadvantage involves the storage of the stack inventory, which may require a large amount of storage space. As discussed briefly hereinabove, stack inventory is typically required because the tool(s) needed to create the product component, such as a LASER cut machine, need to be set up, programmed and broken down for each type of product component produced. Thus, for a product having five (5) different types of product components, the machining tool must be set up, programmed and broken down five different times and depending upon the geometry of the product component, this process could require a substantial amount of time and labor. As such, it is more cost effective to manufacture each individual component in large quantities and store these components in stack inventory until they are needed for final product assembly. Unfortunately however, storage space is expensive and depending upon the number of components produced and the length of time the components are to be stored, the storage and inventory control costs could be substantial. For example, if a product requires five (5) pieces to complete its assembly and a thousand products are to be stored, then storage space large enough to accommodate five thousand pieces would be required. Moreover, if more than one type of multi-piece product is to be stored at the same time, then additional storage space would be required.
Another disadvantage involves the secondary operations or the assembly of the products having multiple pieces. Even though individual product pieces may be manufactured with a high degree of accuracy, the product must still be individually assembled and due to layout welding and/or snagging, these secondary operations can be labor intensive. Not only can this be a time consuming and labor intensive task, but it is possible for the finished product to be assembled together incorrectly. Thus, if such an error was not found immediately, the products that were assembled incorrectly would have to be disassembled and re-assembled correctly, effectively doubling the initial assembly time and cost.
Anther disadvantage involves the inventory control of pieces in stack inventory. With a large number of product pieces, it is inevitable that some pieces may be lost and/or damaged. Each of the damaged and undamaged components needs to be tracked and located via an inventory control system and the damaged and lost pieces need to be replaced. As above, in order to replace these pieces, the tool(s) needed to create the product component would have to be set up and re-programmed to replace the damaged and/or lost product, adding still more to the total cost.
Still another disadvantage involves the need for a large bending press to form or bend the material(s) into the desired end product shape. This is because the materials that are typically used require a large amount of tonnage in order to effectuate a bend in the material. This is undesirable because large bending presses are expensive to purchase and require a large amount of space to operate.